A two-metre-high floral display has been unveiled at West Suffolk Hospital as a thank you from the people of Bury St Edmunds.

East Anglian Daily Times: The floral display is outside the main West Suffolk Hospital entrance Picture: JO SWEETMANThe floral display is outside the main West Suffolk Hospital entrance Picture: JO SWEETMAN (Image: Jo Sweetman 2015)

The gift to NHS staff was organised by the town’s Bury in Bloom horticultural group to lift their spirits during the coronavirus crisis.

The ‘fountain of flowers’, which is located in front of the main public entrance, was paid for with donations from members the public, the Bury St Edmunds Society - the parent organisation of Bury in Bloom - and councillor Paul Hopfensperger’s locality budget.

MORE: ‘Thank you West Suffolk Hospital from Bury St Edmunds’ - plans for five-tier floral display to show gratitudeBury in Bloom co-ordinator David Irvine said: “With so many people wanting to express their gratitude to the West Suffolk Hospital staff for their tireless dedication, we saw the fountain of flowers as a way for everyone to come together and say thank you.”

He added: “It was very touching to read the stories that came with the donations and some of course were made in memorial.”

Donations in kind were made by Woolpit Nurseries, who provided plants, CCG Gardeners, who planted the pyramid, and the West Suffolk Hospital estates department.

Sue Smith, head of fundraising at the hospital’s My WiSH Charity, said: “I would like to say a huge thank you to Bury in Bloom, members of the public and the Bury Society for donating this incredible floral fountain as a tribute to all the staff.

“This beautiful floral display will remind staff how much they are valued every time they see it.”

The floral fountain, which is nearly in full bloom, weighs about 300kg when full of water.

Enough money was raised to ensure the pyramid can be maintained and replanted twice a year – autumn and spring - for the next two or three seasons.

Mr Irvine said: “Please come and see what you have helped us create – it has a real wow factor.”

Bury in Bloom will be entering the display in a regional online competition later this month in the category ‘Best Large Container Planting’.